Guillermo del Toro to Direct ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with Harry Potter’s Emma Watson to Star

This could turn into an interesting development as Guillermo del Toro is now reportedly set to direct a new adaptation of the classic tale Beauty and the Beast for Warner Bros. with Harry Potter star Emma Watson in final negotiations to star as Belle. Andrew Davies, who co-wrote the recent The Three Musketeers adaptation with Alex Litvak is set to write the screenplay based on a treatment del Toro will write himself.

There’s no word on whether or not del Toro will go to Beauty and the Beast once he completes work on his upcoming monster film Pacific Rim, which won’t hit theaters until May 10, 2013, but one can assume.

Then again, one could also assume this project will never see the light of day as del Toro has a long run of attaching himself to projects that never get off the ground, not to mention he has plenty of films he’s expected to work on with The Haunted Mansion at Disney the first that comes to mind.

However, this is a project that has been around for some time, after first being reported back in July 2011 when Denise Di Novi told ComingSoon.net she was developing an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast alongside del Toro and that Watson was lined up to star. Di Novi is still involved and clearly del Toro and Watson have also stuck around.

Ironically enough, this isn’t the first Beauty and the Beast project to be announced inside the last few days. Last Friday we learnedChristophe Gans (Silent Hill) was preparing to direct an adaptation of the classic tale with Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) in the lead roles. That project is expected to begin shooting this October. Coming from the man that also directed Brotherhood of the Wolf, Gans’ adaptation could be intriguing.

The prospect, though, of del Toro tackling this particular story seems like a perfect choice for such a film as I’m sure he’s a fan of Jean Cocteau‘s classic 1946 adaptation and would hopefully attempt to embrace the magical spirit of filmmaking that film exudes rather than resort to CG.

She is also set to re-team with Potter helmer David Yates for Your Voice in My Head, which was written by Emma Forrest based on her memoir, “Your Voice In My Head.” Watson will play Forrest as a self-destructive writer who is struggling with personal issues and embarks on the difficult road to recovery.

Now we just wait and see if the film will actually get made or if this is just one more to add to del Toro’s list of films that never were.